Arts
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
Your one-stop portal to the 20 pueblos of New Mexico. Gas station (with tobacco and papers), history, traveling exhibits, work by local artists, a high-end gift shop and wine-your-future-boss-here restaurant all in a huge, recently remodeled (and gorgeous) site.
Mariposa Gallery
Easy to miss in the hubub, Jen Rohrig and Liz Dineen run this flexible, unpretentious sometimes challenging, sometimes adorable Nob Hill sweetheart. Jewelry, sculpture, photography, paintings, widely mixed media, books, and many genres between all make appearances. Delicious opening eats and uncommonly friendly faces behind the counter make it an easy return destination on First Fridays (or any night, really).
Matrix Fine Art/New Grounds Print Workshop
To the left, Matrix is a no-frills gallery with interesting, often edgy work in multiple media.
Monte Vista Fire Station
The solitary tip-off to this bar’s former life as a fire station is the giant pole settled in the center of the stairs. Other than that, you’ve got a somewhat frat-y university bar upstairs and what used to be an upper-scale dining room downstairs, both with covetable patio space overlooking the Monte Vista neighborhood of Nob Hill and Central Ave, respectively.
National Hispanic Cultural Center
A Mecca for high SW/El norte art. The renowned performing arts facilities attract some big acts, from international flamenco megastars to off-Broadway players.
National Museum of Nuclear Science and History
Where else in the world can you see bomb shell casings and radioactive materials with Cold War-era kitsch? Albuquerque, of course!
New Mexico Jazz Workshop
Perhaps not as hip as the Outpost, but dammit, nothing beats a cold one and a hot night of Salsa Under the Stars. Every summer, the New Mexico Jazz Workshop takes over the Albuquerque Museum Amphitheater.
NM Museum of Natural History and Science
It’s smelled precisely the same since the early 1980s. Real locals know the giant shin bone upstairs was actually upside-down for nigh-on two decades before some puto paleontologist pointed it out.
Park Fine Art
From Emily Trovillion’s macabre, colorful surrealism, to Woon_Hang Joo’s non-traditional oils, to Stephanie Lerma’s obsessive, sewn paper sculptures, Young-Sook — herself an accomplished painter — keeps a killer little spot. A shame it’s buried in the Galleria.
Quelab
A project and collaboration workspace for everything. From green tech to robotics, fixing appliances and general craftwork, everything. A brainstorming, building, playing, learning/teaching space, too. A workshop full of member-donated tools and supplies.
Sumner & Dene Creations in Art
$25,000 paintings and $25 hand-made earrings co-mingle in a friendly, bright space. While you’re there, be sure to chat up Roy behind the counter; he’s highly qualified, fascinating and adorable.
SW Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
Albuquerque is a city obsessed with film. We love making them, we love seeing them. We love sexy films, we love foreign films, and we love films that make you think. So it’s no surprise we love the annual Southwest Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.